Painting is like silent poem, said Simonides, poet from ancient Greece.Paintings are icons, doors to the Platonian world above the heavens. Paintings on my blog are just those icons, which lead a viewer into the magic world of harmony and beauty. Artists who present their achievements on my blog have a very different cultural and national background, they represent variety of artistic traditions and schools

Strony

Amílcar Augusto Pereira de Castro (6 June 1920 – 21 November 2002) was a Brazilian artist, sculptor and graphic designer.Starting his career as a graphic designer, de Castro revolutionized the design of Brazilian newspapers in the 1950s, notably Jornal do Brasil.From the 1960s he focused on sculpture and – alongside Lygia Clark, Ligia Pape and Helio Oiticica – was one of the leading figures of the Brazilian neo-constructivist movement.De Castro is particularly famous for large, bold simple iron forms nearly always characterized by a design based on "one cut, one fold."His method can be linked both to his earlier work with graphic design and paper, and to the mining heritage of his home state of Minas Gerais.De Castro did not just produce steel sculptures, he also used wood, marble and glass. Reflecting his training under Alberto de Guignard and his work as a graphic designer, he also produced thousands of graphic works, drawings prints and large scale paintings, as well as objects and jewelry.Wikipedia

Henriette Fauteux-Masse (October 30, 1924 – March 5, 2005) was a Canadian painter living in Quebec.She was born in Coaticook and was first interested in dance. She later began painting, being largely self-taught. She visited New York City three times between 1946 and 1948, talking to artists and visiting museums. In 1951, she received a scholarship from the Quebec government which allowed her to study in Paris with André Lhote. She was known for her abstracts, landscapes and portraits. She participated in a number of shows in Quebec and in Paris. Fauteux-Massé was a founding member of the Conseil de la peinture and a member of the Non-Figurative Artists' Association of Montreal and the Société des artistes professionels du Québec.Scholar Sandra Paikowsky says: "Fauteux-Massé’s work has a particular elegance that derives from its sense of restraint and composure, but also from an undercurrent of whimsy that discloses the sensuousness of the impastoed surface and its rhythmic brush marks."Wikipedia

Paul-Emile Borduas (November 1, 1905 – February 22, 1960) was a Québec painter known for his abstract paintings. He was the leader of the avant-garde Automatiste movement and the chief author of the Refus Global manifesto of 1948. Borduas had a profound impact on the development of the arts and of thought, both in the province of Quebec and in Canada.Paul-Émile Borduas is one of the most important figures in modern Canadian art. A leader of the group known as the Automatists, he developed a spontaneous style of non-figurative painting. Borduas was the principal author of the Refus Global, an influential manifesto calling for freedom of expression, and signed by many of Quebec's leading artists and intellectuals."Borduas's move to New York in 1953 was of great importance to his artistic development, as he saw the work of artists from the New York School of Abstract Expressionists, including Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline and Mark Rothko. It was there that he began using a palette-knife, exclusively, to apply paint, and became preoccupied with light and space. In 1955, he moved to Paris, where he continued to paint, write and travel, despite failing health.The work of Borduas demonstrates a marked evolution in style. His early figurative work, with its decorative, romantic elements, shows the influence of Maurice Denis. By 1937, although he was still doing figurative work, he placed more emphasis on structure and the plastic qualities of paint, as evident in Tahitian (1941). The artist's move to Surrealism and Automatism are visible in Leeward of the Island (1.47) (1947). Created in his final years, 3 + 4 + 1 (1956), with its reduced palette of black and white, demonstrates the artist's move towards a classical form of abstraction."(gallery.ca)

Purvis Young (February 4, 1943 – April 20,
2010) was an American artist from the Overtown neighborhood of Miami,
Florida. Self-taught, Young's work was often a blend painting/drawing
with collaged elements utilizing everyday discarded found objects.Inspired
by documentaries, (art)books, American history and spiritual folklore
his visual vocabuluary was vast; wild horses, urban landscapes, (self)
portraits, figures, holymen, angels, warriors, boats, sports, musicians,
erotica, processions and incarceration to name but a
few....(purvisyoung.com).Purvis Young was born in Liberty City, a
neighborhood of Miami, Florida, on February 2, 1943. As a young boy his
uncle introduced him to drawing, but Young lost interest quickly.He
never attended high school.As a teenager Young served three years
(1961–64) in prison at North Florida's Raiford State Penitentiary for
breaking and entering. While in prison he would regain his interest in
art and began drawing and studying art books.When released, he began to
produce thousands of small drawings, which he kept in shopping carts and
later glued into discarded books and magazines that he found on the
streets. He proceeded to move into the Overtown neighborhood of
Miami.Young found himself attracted to a vacant alley called Goodbread
Alley, which was named after the Jamaican bakeries that once occupied
the street; he would start living there in 1971.In the early 1970s Young
found inspiration in the mural movements of Chicago and Detroit, and
decided to create a mural of inspiration Overtown.He had never painted
before, but inspiration struck and he began to create paintings and
nailing them to the boarded up storefronts that formed the alley. He
would paint on wood he found on the streets and occasionally paintings
would "disappear" from the wall, but Young didn't mind. About two years
after starting the mural, tourists started visiting the alley, mainly
white tourists. Occasionally Young would sell paintings to visitors -
tourists and collectors alike - right off the wall. The mural garnered
media attention, including the attention of millionaire Bernard Davis,
owner of the Miami Art Museum. Davis became a patron of Young's,
providing him with painting supplies as well. Davis died in 1973,
leaving Young a local celebrity in Miami.In the late 1990s and early 2000s he began
exploring other inspirations by watching historical documentaries about
war, the Great Depression, commerce, and Native American conflicts and
struggles in the United States. In 1999 the Rubell family, notable art
collectors from New York, purchased the entire content of Young's
studio, a collection of almost 3,000 pieces.In 2008 the Rubells donated
108 works to Morehouse College In January 2007, Purvis was selected as
the Art Miami Fair's Director's Choice at the Miami Beach Convention
Center and helped to establish a number of outdoor art fairs in South
Florida that continue today.With artistic success came monetary
gain, and Young failed to maintain his estate. Before his death he
became involved in a legal battle with former manager, Martin Siskind.
Young sued Siskind for mismanagement of funds. In response, Siskind
successfully petitioned for Young to be declared mentally incompetent
and Young's affairs were placed in control of legal guardians. According
to friends, Young was not incompetent and was left destitute by the
procedures. Siskind stated that he and Young had settled the suit
amicably, and that Young retained ownership of 1,000 paintings and was
financially stable.Wikipedia